


Through The Mirrored Glass

by daggerthrougharose



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: At one point, Gryles Friendship, I Tried, M/M, Model!Louis, Nick is lovely, Pining, and it looks into louis' office, best bud zayn, but not the best song, harry sees louis in the office window, he develops a stupidly mental crush on him, i put in a song that worked with the story, i wrote a lot of pining, liam is hardly there, like harry sits facing the window, nick is brill, not long, not properly either, office!harry, office!louis, photographer!harry, record company!louis, so much pining, sorry - Freeform, therefor no one can criticise me, through a window, zayn is good guy!zayn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-08
Updated: 2015-05-08
Packaged: 2018-03-29 11:34:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3894862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daggerthrougharose/pseuds/daggerthrougharose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“He hates me, Lou.”</p><p>She snorted and flicked her head back around to look at the boy hunched over a stack of paperwork, scribbling furiously. His tongue stuck out slightly to the right of his mouth and his glasses were falling off the bridge of his nose. He had a bright pink fairy patterned mug beside him, full of something hot judging by the steam and a headband holding his fringe out of his eyes, a lavender jumper over a high collared dress shirt and just a hint of tattoos peeking out from under his sleeves.</p><p>“Harry, he looks like a fucking sweetheart. I can’t imagine him hating anyone.”<br/>--</p><p>Harry works for Teasdale’s Magazine and his office window just so happens to sit opposite Louis Tomlinson’s.</p><p>But apparently, Louis doesn’t appreciate it all that much.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Through The Mirrored Glass

“Oh, for god’s sake Harry, just ask the lad out!”

Harry whipped his head around to stare at Lou who stood propped against this desk, one hand splaying the wooden corner, the other perched on her hip. She raised an eyebrow at him and nodded back towards the window. Harry scoffed and shook his head, following her look towards the cute boy in the opposite office.

Harry had been working for Teasdale’s magazine for the past three years and had sat at the same desk for the last two. He realised very quickly on his _first_ day in the chair that there was a beacon of sunlight and beauty in the window opposite his. Every day he would watch him – not in a creepy way, mind you, more of a glance when he catches movement or when the boy bit his lip or when he ruffled his hair or when he laughed when another colleague came over or when –

“You’ve been pining over him for however long you’ve been here, Harry-“

“Two years, three months and eight days.”

“How the hell did you even know that?”

Harry shrugged, even though he might have a countdown on his phone titled ‘first saw the beautiful boy’ with a bit of a creep shot from his desk.

You can’t blame him though, he just so happened to be playing with his camera when the beautiful boy stood from his desk and stretched with his back to Harry. His shirt had ridden up, showcasing the dimples on his back to everyone in Harry’s office and maybe Harry had been just fast enough to catch a photograph, documenting the beauty of the moment forever.

Harry just shrugged at Lou and turned back to his computer, zooming in slightly on the most recent image of Jennifer Lopez and clearing out a few of the marks and blemishes on her right arm. Lou moved to stand behind him without a single word and stole the mouse from his hand.

“Lou!”

“You will not get this back until you ask him out.” She scolded, lighting her arm higher, as far as the wire would let her take it.

“Lou, it’s ten in the morning, the work day has only just started,” Harry protested, reaching up to steal the mouse back from Lou’s hand. She pushed down on his shoulders with the other hand to prevent him from standing, “How the hell am I supposed to talk to him when he’s holed up in his office and doesn’t even know my name?” Harry sighed and slumped back into his chair, staring at the pout on J-Lo’s face.

“Well, what time will he leave the office then?”

“How am I supposed to know?”

Lou was silent for a moment before she started full on cackling, hunching over, dropping her arms to the desk and choking out giggles between incomprehensible words. Harry sighed once more, taking the mouse from her slack hands and getting back to work on the image in front of him. He edited the colouring so the background was slightly darker and got to work on thickening her eyelashes.

It took a good few minutes for Lou to stop laughing, but when she had, she turned and perched on the edge of his desk, next to his screen, “C’mon, Harry. You’ve been sitting here for two years, three months and a load of days and you’re always watching him. Do you seriously expect me to believe that you don’t know his timetable off by heart?”

“He hates me, Lou.”

She snorted and flicked her head back around to look at the boy hunched over a stack of paperwork, scribbling furiously. His tongue stuck out slightly to the right of his mouth and his glasses were falling off the bridge of his nose. He had a bright pink fairy patterned mug beside him, full of something hot judging by the steam and a headband holding his fringe out of his eyes, a lavender jumper over a high collared dress shirt and just a hint of tattoos peeking out from under his sleeves.

“Harry, he looks like a fucking sweetheart. I can’t imagine him hating anyone.”

“You haven’t seen him in action Lou, he can be terrifying.” Harry looked over to the boy wistfully, “Last week, someone told him something that apparently, he didn’t like. I’ve never seen anyone look so terrified after being shouted at. Tears and everything.” He chuckled, “I’d have killed to hear it.”

Lou raised her eyebrow at him, again, and shook her head, “I always knew you’d be the submissive one in a relationship.” Harry’s jaw dropped open as she winked at him, laughing all the way back to her office.

Harry turned to look at the boy again, only to be met with angry eyes and a furrowed brow staring right at him. Harry sighed, shoulders slumping forward as he got back to editing his images.

\--

Harry had never really imagined that he’d be doing photography for a living. Well, sure it wasn’t the _ideal_ photography, having to later photoshop people until they became something other than themselves, but even so. His job was to photograph. The editing was just an additional downside.

Harry had joined the company fresh out of university when he was twenty one. Lou and Tom were his next door neighbours and he’d offered to baby sit their daughter Lux rather than going out partying for his last year. He’d asked them instead if he could photograph Lux for his university dissertation, capturing her childlike side and positioning her into adult style situations, and after he achieved a 1:1 mark, they offered him a job as the photograph intern at their magazine.

He’d been the sprout of the company by far. Most of the employees had been late twenties aside from him which he found rather entertaining considering the magazine mainly targeted young adults and teenagers.

Lou quickly became one of his best friends and eventually she moved him from floor three to floor six where he was to work alongside herself, Tom, the finance department, the three main journalists and the editors.

He worked hard, incredibly hard, which is why no one said anything if his mind was distracted for perhaps an hour a day by the beauty that was the boy through the glass.

However, sometimes he thought that the boy didn’t like him. Why? The glaring.

The glaring had started his first year of sitting in that very desk. He remembers it well, sadly.

It was a Friday in June. The 13th to be exact; how unfortunate. He’d looked out of his window, only to be hit with the blazing light of the summer sun. He had smiled extra wide, even with his new found blindness, and had drawn a smile-y face on the little whiteboard he kept on his desk.

Harry loves the sun, loved what it brought to the world. When the sun came out, he became happier than usual, feeding off of the energy of the light.

His happiness however, had lasted all of three hours, after returning from a lunch break spent in the park with Niall and Liam, both who also worked at Teasdale’s.

They’d sat on a large patch of grass, sandwiches and crisps picked up from the Asda’s across the street, stretching out in the sun.

Niall and Liam had been discussing anniversaries, Niall’s one year anniversary with Melissa coming up and Liam’s three years with Sophia just passing. Harry had been helping, putting in suggestions for presents and romantic things Niall could do to make the day special when he’d spotted _him_ walking towards him with another man in tow.

Harry couldn’t help but stare at the way the sun reflected off of the boy’s skin and how his eyes lit up with happiness when he laughed. He hadn’t noticed that the boy was looking back at him until they were within ten meters of each other.

Harry snapped his head away as he sat back up and turned his whole body to face the lads only to find them both looking at him expectantly.

“What?” Harry said slowly, his heart thumping out of his throat. He could see _him_ out of the corner of his eye. They were within hearing distance now and Harry was hoping to hear a name, a simple name to match the beautiful boy but instead –

“I said, when are _you_ going to find a nice man to settle down with so you can have these breakdowns?”

Harry had watched out of the corner of his eye as the beautiful boy’s head snapped around to look at him and his whole body froze. He took in a deep breath, contemplating his answer.

Should he be courageous and suggestive and honest or should he just play it off? He didn’t even know if the boy was into guys.

Harry just shrugged, “When the time is right I guess.”

The boys had nodded and left it at that and Harry had gone back to watching the boy from the corner of his eye as the friend tugged on his sleeve and pulled him back in the direction of the office building.

Honestly, Harry was hoping the beautiful boy’s reaction was hinting towards his own attraction to men, possibly his own attraction to Harry from those few moments where their eyes met.

But the next time he went to the window, instead of being graced with the beauty of the boy, he was startled by the furrowed brow and the angry glare he got in response.

Harry didn’t do anything, just stared back at the boy, jaw hanging slack and eyes wide with fear until the other lad turned away, back down to his desk, shoulders heaving in what appeared to be a heavy sigh.

He knew the beautiful boy was too good to be true.

However, two years later and still Harry watched him, pined over him through glass. He put up with the glares, they weren’t too often, really, just always managed to bring a little element of sadness to the happy sunny days.

\--

It was the next Monday that things started to change. The beautiful boy was wearing a pair of sunglasses and an even snugglier jumper than usual. His hair was fluffy and messed up instead of styled in a sort of quiff and he had sweater paws.

Sweater. Paws.

Harry hated him. He was seriously contemplating asking Lou to move his desk for the day because _oh my god_ how was he supposed to concentrate with that sight.

But Lou was already on her way over to his desk with a huge grin on her face and something in her eye which terrified him a little. She stopped in front of him and he opened his mouth to question her – and possibly ask her to switch desks with him (he could pull off editor-in-chief for the day right?) –but she cut him off.

“Louis.” What?

“Excuse me?”

“Your boy, his name is Louis.”

Harry turned his head to look at the lovely boy who was currently sipping a glass of water and swallowing down two little white pills. Harry chucked to himself; he had a hangover. That explained the fluffy just-out-of-bed style.

“Louis?” he hummed, the name rolling around in his head and his mouth, “Pretty name-“

“If you finish that sentence with ‘for a pretty boy’ then I’m having you moved down a floor.” Lou teased, running a hand through his hair and taking her usual seat on his desk by the screen, “He’s called Louis Tomlinson. Works at 78 Productions Limited –“

“Like the record label?”

“Not like. _The_ record label. He does most of the talent scouting, organising files and such and writing up contracts which is rather unusual seeing as he himself and his best friend slash partner in crime Zayn Malik actually own the company.”

Fuck fuck fuck Harry fell for someone so out of his league it hurts.

“He’s got six little siblings. Two of which are a little bit older than Lux and just so happen to attend the same school as her which just so happens to be how I met Mr. Tomlinson. Apparently he’s a proper family guy-” kill me now, oh my god “-and likes boys with curly hair.”

“You made that last part up.” Harry whispered, staring at the bo- _Louis_ once again through the window, heart caught so high up in his throat that he wondered how he could get those words out.

“Well, maybe he didn’t tell me that in specific but I do believe you and he would get on just swell, so get on with it.” She hopped off of his desk and straightened out the creases in her skirt.

“Lou-“

“I don’t wanna hear it, Haz! Get to work!” she snickered as she sauntered off, turning back only to shout, “Oh, and do some of your job, I’d hate to fire your lovely face!” slamming shut the door to her office.

\--

With this new information, Harry could feel himself falling harder and harder for Louis. He found himself linking little aspects of his daily activities to things he most likely did at home. Louis was always making himself hot drinks and judging by the stack of tea bags that were once delivered in a crate to Louis’ desk, he’d say that was the preferred drink. He wondered how often Louis made tea for his siblings. Possibly a mother and a father? Was he still living at home? But he owned a multi-millionaire record label surely he’d have moved out of home by now?

Did he read a lot? He had a pretty sturdy thick-rimmed pair of glasses. Maybe he watched a lot of television or played a lot of video games. Did he play sport? Was he sporty?

Harry had seen his back dimples and his biceps. He was sporty.

But he still seemed to be homophobic?

Honestly that was the only reason Harry could think of for the glaring. Either he was homophobic, or he just _really_ didn’t appreciate being stared at which… actually made a lot of sense.

Maybe he wasn’t homophobic then, maybe he just didn’t like Harry for being super creepy.

Harry questioned these things all day every day. He didn’t let it affect his work, although a few times he did find himself comparing the faces of the models that he photographed and airbrushed to Louis Tomlinson’s.

Lou obviously had his work cut out for him, however. Early on a Wednesday morning, whilst Harry was trying to shape an awful photograph of Katy Perry into something that looked like her actual smiling self rather than the grimace that was captured on camera, Lou sauntered up to his table and dropped a file in front of him.

Harry startled, his hand shooting out to save himself and instead, knocking a mug full of pencils onto the floor. He gasped and stood to retrieve them but a perfectly painted hand held him in his chair.

“This is your chance, Styles,” Lou whispered, “This is your chance to get your man.”

Harry’s eyes slowly closed as he shook his head in exasperation, “Lou-”

“Stop acting like I’m trying to force you into doing something you don’t want to!” Lou sighed and took her place atop his desk, “Just look at the file, Haz. I promise you, this’ll be great for you! Whether you end up getting the boy or not this is great for your career!”

Harry looked down at the file in front of him and slowly opened it. There, staring back at him were pictures and forms covered in information on Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik and 78 Productions Limited.

“How is this going to help my career?”

“You, my dear Harry, are going to be photographing Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik for the latest upgrade of the label. You’re our best, and this is big.”

Harry opened his mouth to protest but was cut off by her hand.

“Uh-uh, no arguments. This is your chance Harry, in more ways than one.”

\--

Honestly, Harry should have quite right there and then, because by the time the actual session came around, Harry was so close to throwing up from the nerves.

 Lou smiled at him reassuringly as they stood together in the lift, traveling down to the second floor where the studio was situated. Harry clutched his camera tightly in his hands, his breathing heavy and laboured and his right eye twitching slightly from the lack of sleep he’d had last night after spending hours panicking about how easily he could mess up.

What if he came onto Louis by accident? What if his brain to mouth filter fell out and he just started word vomiting about how pretty Louis’ eyes were?

Wait… what if Louis and Zayn were together?

“Louis will be here at half ten, Zayn and his wife have already arrived and Zayn is in makeup right now.” Lou interrupted his thoughts. Sometimes he wondered whether she could read his mind.

“No, I can’t read your mind, Harry,” she scoffed, “But after knowing you for as long as I have, I can read your face.” Lou chuckled as they stepped out of the lift and started the journey down the corridor, “Can you do me a favour and stop freaking out? Louis is very much single and very much gay.”

Harry stopped walking and stared at Lou until she stopped and turned around. “Harry?”

“He’s gay?”

“Yes.”

Harry took in a deep breath, “You’re sure?”

“She’s sure.”

He linked eyes with Lou in time to watch her break out into a fit of giggles before he slowly turned around, finding himself face to face with Louis Tomlinson himself. _Fuck._

“I uh-I thought you weren’t supposed to be here till half past?” Crap what time even is it?

“Well, I figured I’d make an effort to be on time if not a little early. I heard the photographer was adorable.”

Harry furrowed his brow and looked at the floor, fiddling with the buttons on his camera, “I’m not sure where you heard that from.”

Silence. Harry looked up from under his lashes to see Louis staring back at him looking almost confused as Harry himself felt.

“Um… I’m Louis. Tomlinson. Louis Tomlinson.” Louis held out a hand somewhat awkwardly and Harry was quick to take it in his own.

“I’m Harry. Styles.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Harry.”

“Likewise.”   _Oh my god his hands are tiny._

Harry cleared his throat and pulled his hand back, quickly grabbing onto his camera like a lifeline. A voice from behind him shouted out Louis’ name and said boy flashed Harry a cheeky smile before ducking behind him into the makeup room.

“Fuck,” Harry choked out as Lou placed a hand on his shoulder, “He’s so perfect.”

“Alright, lover boy,” Lou laughed, “Let’s go get you all set up.”

\--

Zayn’s solo side of the shoot went rather smoothly. He’d been dressed in skin tight jeans and a plain white t-shirt with a leather jacket thrown on top. He looked casual and yes still godlike. The studio had been set up with a black background, two back lights and one main focus light directed at Zayn as well as the flash attached to Harry’s camera. 

He followed all the instruction he received, turning this way and that way and pulling ridiculously over the top pouting faces that Harry could easily mould into the perfect image.

Honestly, Harry hated having to photoshop anything of anyone. In his honest opinion, Zayn looked beautiful as he was; chiselled jaw, wide brown eyes, perfect facial features, and perfect body, pretty much perfect everything.

But he’d learnt by now, after six years in this industry, that photoshopping a client is a necessity. The prettier they look on the cover of a magazine, the more likely someone was going to buy it.

He hated that aspect of his job. But the few times he’d attempted to get away with not using photoshop on a client in the magazine, he’d gotten a right lashing.

Not from his bosses, however, but usually from the client and their manager. They all needed to feel beautiful. Apparently, they couldn’t achieve that without photoshopped images of themselves.

He had lists of things that clients wanted him to change. With Zayn for example, they told him to edit his eyelashes thicker and fuller, his hair slightly darker and higher and his legs longer. Most celebrities wanted their bodies toned – legs thinner, more of a thigh gap (Harry could never understand that one), less stomach.

Honestly, Harry was afraid to hear Louis’ requests. He couldn’t see a single thing wrong with Louis and he didn’t want to listen as he pointed out things he didn’t like about himself, or that others didn’t like about him.

Louis came out just seconds after Zayn’s solo shoot had finished and sauntered over to stand with the boy under the spotlights.

“We figured we could get our joint pictures finished before you do my solo images and that way Zaynie here can head off home and you can have me all to yourself.” Louis winked. Harry choked a little on his tongue before he nodded and waved for the two boys to take a bit of a step back, reframing his camera a little and waiting for the tech crew to readjust the lights for two people and switch the black background to the white one.

Louis was dressed similarly to Zayn, but without a jacket and with a lot cut red shirt that showed off his collar bones and the ‘It Is What It Is’ tattoo that spread proudly across it. However, instead of the chunky biker boots Zayn was sporting, Louis had a pair of plimsolls, also red, with smiley faces drawn on the tips.

Something led Harry to believe that these were Louis’ own shoes.

Louis and Zayn together were exactly how they were described in the countless magazines Harry had flicked through to determine what he wanted for the shoot. They were partners in crime.

Louis refused to do basically anything Harry asked of him, playing dumb and pulling ridiculous faces whilst Zayn just stood in the background laughing his arse off. But the images came out much better than Harry would have expected. They showed a completely different side to this dynamic duo. The team that are breaking the music industries ways and reforming them to create a better platform for new age artists to perform on. The duo that have shaped the music industry before their 25th birthdays.

Louis was definitely the louder of the two, shouting obscenities and cracking jokes and making loud noises. Zayn’s contribution consisted of stealing a couple of cans of spray paint from behind the back drop whilst Harry was flicking back through the images he had previously taken and spraying across the pure white back drop in both bright green and black, grinning to himself as he stepped back to watch the colours run together.

Harry captured some precious moments when Louis stole the black and began writing ‘78 Productions Ltd’ across the back drop, leaving Zayn to colour in each letter with incredible precision.

Honestly, Harry had never had more fun during a photo shoot. The two lads were causing mayhem and mischief and Harry could not keep the smile off his face, hiding it behind the camera as he took picture after picture.

After he had successfully filled in every letter of ’78 Productions Ltd’ and sprayed a couple of music relate doodles in the background, Zayn passed Louis the spray can and began taking off the leather jacket, stepping out of the spotlights.

He clapped a hand on Harry’s shoulder and called out a ‘thanks mate!’ as he ducked back into the dressing room, leaving Louis alone under the spot lights.

The tech crew got back to work readjusting cameras and unfastening the white screen, carefully laying it aside before replacing it with the black one once again.

“Hey, d’ya think we could keep the background? I’ll pay whatever it cost to buy it originally.” It took Harry a minute to realise Louis was talking to him. He had a giant grin on his face and a little splatter of black spray on his cheek which was quickly wiped off by a makeup artists and painted over with a perfect match foundation for his skin, “I think it’d look awesome in my office, y’know?”

“Oh! I-um… Yeah that should be okay. Not like we can really use it with anyone else.” Harry replied, biting his lip and clicking back through the pictures. God he wanted Louis to smile at him like that.  

“Hey, mate,” Louis waited until Harry drew himself away from the camera long enough to look him in the eye, “I’m sorry. Zayn and I get a little carried away sometimes.”

“It’s fine,” Harry replied, distracted by the brightness of Louis’ eyes in one picture in particular. Louis had looked up just as the camera flashed, eyes wild and happy and cheeky and his teeth were showing as he laughed and Harry had never fallen more in love with a photograph in his life.

“Harry, everything’s set up!”

Harry pulled himself away long enough to thank the young blonde intern as she handed him the cable to attach his camera to the flash and stepped back into place. Louis followed his movements, turning his body to face Harry directly.

The shoot went a lot quicker than Harry expected – or wanted – but every photograph Harry took came out looking incredible. Louis participated in every way, just like Zayn had, and everything was finished within thirty minutes.

When Harry lowered his camera for the final time and signalled everyone to shut down the studio lights and turn on the house ones instead, Louis stepped towards his, hands interlaced behind his back with a giant smile.

“You’re pretty good, y’know?”

“Sorry?”

“Your photographs? I’ve been a fan of Teasdale’s Magazine for the longest time. Your pictures definitely make it.”

Harry blushed and managed to choke out a ‘thank you’.

“You’re very interesting to watch too, y’know?”

Harry froze, “Watch? What do you mean by watch?”

“When you’re taking pictures. You get really into it. Proper going for it, y’know? It’s great. Really great.”

“Oh.” Harry smiled at Louis’ smiley face shoes, “Thank you.”

“No problem.” Louis turned to walk back to the dressing room but Harry shot a hand out. This was probably his only chance to ask Louis out.

“You alright, love?”

“Yeah…” Harry whispered, “I just… Um… I was wondering… Would you like to… um…”

Louis raised an eyebrow.

“Are there any… um… requests that you have?” Harry stammered out. _For fucks sake, Styles, pull yourself together._

“In what way?”

“Like… Zayn wants his eyelashes darker and legs longer.” He froze a little and pulled his lip between his teeth before quickly letting it go, “Is there anything you want um… changed?” _Idiot, idiot, IDIOT._

Louis threw his head back and laughed, “I’m perfect as I am, babe. No need to edit me.” He flashed an award winning smile and winked at Harry before strolling back to the dressing room, completely missing Harry’s nod of agreement and dimple filled grin.

\--

Once again, Harry sat at his computer editing images for the latest magazine update. He’d selected three of Louis and Zayn together and then three each of them separately.

He could see into Louis’ office perfectly from his current position and couldn’t help the overwhelming grin when he spotted the white, green and black spray painted background hanging from the furthest wall.

Louis looked adorable, once again, walking around the office with his phone in one hand and a steaming mug in the other.

Harry flicked his eyes back to the pictures of his screen of Louis. He’d gone over them twelve hundred times but he could _not_ think of a single thing that would need changing. His eyelashes were already beautiful, his hair was styled perfectly. He was known for being ‘5”9’’ so adjusting height would just be ridiculous.

And Louis hadn’t even suggested something he wanted changed, unlike Zayn.

So with a final sigh, Harry saved each of the nine files and closed them down, sending them all straight to Lou to check over before he sent them Niall to add into his interview article.

Lou sent back her confirmation and appreciation of the images – “Don’t tell my husband but I _definitely_ would.” – and with no edits to Louis’ face and the bare minimum to Zayn’s, Harry sent finalised his side of the project and sent them off.

They were his favourite pictures yet. 

\--

Harry had been peacefully staring out of his window looking for Louis in the opposite offices when the door slammed open.

He didn’t think much of it. He worked in the main, open area of the office with twelve other employee’s. The door slammed multiple times a day; people moving too fast to get to their desks to answer the phone or clock in to catch it before it hit the wall, angry celebrities, angry staff members who were denied a pay rise. It happened frequently. It was rarely actually for Harry.

Today, however…

“Look, I know that I’m not the best behaved when it comes to photo shoots but I still think it’d incredibly unfair that you chose to make Zayn look so beautiful and leaving me looking like some low life beside him.”

Harry’s whole body froze and his eyes widened. Slowly, he turned around to face the raging boy behind him.

Louis was holding the most recent copy of Teasdale’s Magazine in his right hand and his left was closed tight in a fist, only loosening to clench up once again.

“I… um-”

“Was I really that awful? Do you know how tedious it is to stand in front of a camera and take hundreds of pictures where you can’t even be yourself?” Louis growled, “I just wanted to lighten things up a little. I didn’t think you’d actually be so low as to make me look so awful!”

“You said you didn’t think anything needed cha-”

“I was _joking_ , Styles!” Louis threw the magazine onto Harry’s lap, “I could hardly tell you to change _everything_ about my appearance, could I?”

“But-”

“I can’t believe you would do this to me. I thought you were supposed to be the ‘best’ in this industry.” Louis hissed.

Harry’s jaw was literally hanging open as was everyone else’s in the office apparently. Lou had even ventured out of her office to watch the commotion, and when she caught Harry’s eye she waved him to join her. Louis followed Harry’s eye line to catch Lou’s and froze slightly before turning back to look at Harry but the photographer refused to meet his eye as he stood to follow Lou into her office.

She shut the door slowly behind him and he refused to even look around until she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into the tightest hug he could have wanted.

“I’m sorry, Haz, that was so unfair of him.” She whispered, stroking his hair and he buried his face into her shoulder.

“No,” he sniffed, “He’s right, I should have edited him or something, I don’t know.”

“Harry, your pictures were incredible, perfect. We wouldn’t have sent them to be printed if we didn’t think they were. Louis has probably seen his face and Zayn’s face enough times to know what the differences would be in those pictures without looking at the whole thing. You made him look incredible without an airbrush. He just hasn’t looked enough to notice that.”

Harry laughed slightly into her shoulder, letting the outburst of breath cover up the sob that rose from his chest.

He’d fucked up all of his chances with Louis. Already.

\--

The glaring got more and more persistent. Every day, at around two in the afternoon, Louis would look over to Harry and _glare_.

For _ages._

Genuinely, around ten minutes _at a time._

And Harry was getting tired of it. He was already sad and worried that he’d messed everything up – which he now knew he had because of the constant glaring – but he didn’t need this aggression _every single day._

Eventually Harry took Lou’s advice and booked the next week off, choosing to spend them bugging his housemate Nick whilst he was at work.

Nick worked at BBC Radio 1 doing the Breakfast Show… and well… Harry was a morning person.

He found himself randomly ringing Nick during the show on his first of five days off. Nick answered the phone live on the radio and kept a running conversation with Harry for a good thirty minutes, breaking only to play a couple songs. When Nick got home around lunch time, he clapped Harry on the back, ruffled his hair and suggested that the lad came with him the next day, since listeners loved his voice so much.

So on the Tuesday, Harry went to work with Nick and hung in the back rooms listening in. He refused to be involved with the speaking aspect but he didn’t mind watching and listening. It was nice to be spending some actual time with his best friend that wasn’t a weekend.

Wednesday saw Harry being forced into the radio booth. He sat opposite Nick, where the celebrities usually perched, and enjoyed a morning of banter.

“So, Styles, any lucky lads in your life at the moment?”

Harry laughed and rolled his eyes at Nick, “Way to out me on the radio Nicholas, couldn’t wait for me to do it myself?”

“Nah, wanted the world to know you belong to me.” Harry and Nick laughed in unison and rolled their eyes as Nick added, “That was a serious joke.”

“Nah, mate, no one for me.”

Nick looked at him with a raised eyebrow, “Sure about that mate, cause you’ve got the break up slash let down blues all over.”  

Harry laughed somewhat weakly, “I dunno, Nick. I’ve got my eye on someone but they don’t like me back.”

“Oh, exclusive.” Nick chuckled, “Hang on, is this office guy?”

“Nick!”

“For listeners who do not know this, which is every single one of you, Harry has his eye on a guy in the office building opposite him and he takes creep shots out the window and uses his career title of ‘photographer’ to get away with it.”

“No I don’t!”

“It’s true! I’ve seen the images!”

“Oh my god, _Nick_!”

“I’m going to dedicate this next song to Harry Styles and Office Lad. Hope you like some Carly Rae Jepson.”

Nick presses a couple of buttons and the upbeat sound of ‘I Really Like You’ begins playing through the headphones. Harry groans and put his head down on the desk in front of him while Nick cackles in the background.

\--

Harry spent the whole of Thursday exploring London and finding new places that he’d never been to before. A cute little bookshop with a coffee shop attached to the side where he sat for a good couple of hours, writing out little notes and thoughts into his brown leather notebook that he carried everywhere with him in case he got inspiration for a project at any time.

He explored the gardens scattered throughout the city and photographed the tourists and strangers walking down Oxford Street, loaded down with shopping bags heavier than them.

He photographed the teenagers with their guitars on the street corners and the dogs sitting patiently beside their owners as they waited to cross the road. The girls with hands so closely intertwined that it was impossible to tell which finger belonged to which hand.

Before he knew it, the sun had gone down and the streets were busy with people trying to get home, so he put his camera away and started his journey back home, smiling up at the lights of the city that hid the stars.

Friday was Nick’s day off, so the two slept in, curled up together in bed – platonically! They were never more than friends – dreaming of flashing lights and screaming people.

\--

Harry found himself stolen as soon as he stepped foot onto the office floor. Lou grabbed his arm and whisked him into her office before he even had the chance to wish everyone a good morning.

“Lou-” Harry protested as she sat him down on the sofa and shut her office door.

“He came looking for you.”

“I… I’m sorry?”

“Louis!” she squealed, “He came sprinting into the office looking for you on Friday morning and when I told him that you had been on holiday all week he asked when you’d be back in.”

That was… odd… “What? Why?”

“He said something about how he’d heard you on the radio the day before.”

“No!” Harry cried, “No! He was listening?”

“Don’t even worry about it, Harry,” Lou grinned, “It seemed like he really really really really really really really wanted to talk to you.”

Harry groaned, “You were listening too weren’t you?”

“He wants you, Harry.”

“I hate you.” He grunted, lifting himself from the sofa and leading himself out of the room.

“And you want him too!”

\--

Louis hadn’t been at his desk all morning. Not once. Harry had been waiting anxiously to see if he’d be venturing over at any point during the day, but it was now eleven am and in the two hours since the office day officially begun and there was still no sight of Louis.

Harry sighed and stood from his desk, wondering into the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea. Everyone greeted him as he walked past, waving at him or smiling and saying hello.

He spent the time waiting for the kettle to boil to stare out of the window at the park just across the street. There were crowds of parents with screaming children and ice cream vans and candy floss stalls surrounding the edges. Ducks swarming near the edges of the small lake as children threw bread crumbs and crusts towards them, laughing as the birds fought each other for the closest scraps and shouting for them to ‘look behind you!’

By the time the kettle had boiled, three children had fallen and cried and been picked up by parents, four budding friendships had been created and he’d witnessed a single mother and a single father meet each other for the first time and from the looks of it, set up their first ‘play date’.

He dragged his feet as he walked back to his desk, tired and sad over the lack of a certain fluffy haired lad in the window opposite his.

When he returned to his desk, however, he found his view completely obstructed by a giant bundle of roses.

When he says giant, he _means_ giant.

Harry quickly handed his mug over to the young girl, Jesy, whose desk was beside his, and attempted to pick up the bouquet.

“They’re beautiful,” he gushed, bringing them to his nose and smelling them. He’d never been gifted with flowers before.

Jesy smiled at him and placed his mug gently on the coaster by his keyboard, “Do you know who they’re from?”

Harry mulled it over, trying to come up with who could have possibly sent him such a beautiful gift. On person in particular popped into his mind but he refused to let himself believe that.

“Here,” Jesy said, “This should help.”

She handed him a small card that had previously been attached to the outside wrapper. He took it carefully between two fingers, balancing the bouquet so he could hold it in one hand.

The card was pure white and plain, decorated only with a simple “I’m so in my head when we’re out of touch” written in childlike handwriting and a small smiley face in the corner.

A smiley face that Harry recognised.

He looked up quickly and his eyes instantly locked on Louis, who was back at his desk, with _sweater paws,_ playing with the petals of a single rose.

He couldn’t help the grin that came over his face as Louis glanced up at the window and back down again almost straight away to brush his fingertips over the petals, a smile brushing his lips.

Lou helped him find a vase big enough to hold the flowers and perched them on the edge of his desk, just far enough to the right to still be on the desk but not close enough that it blocked his clear sight of Louis.

He wanted, more than anything, to rush out of the building, across the alley and into Louis’ office, but honestly? He was terrified.

He wasn’t quite sure why. Surely the roses meant Louis liked him… and had heard the radio interview and _knew_ that Harry liked him too. Unless someone randomly sent Louis a single rose to try and bring them together?

He was terrified of making the wrong move, saying the wrong thing.

So he spent the rest of the morning in his own office, toying with the petals every so often, taking a ridiculous amount of pictures of them, and hardly editing the images of Cher Lloyd that were sat on his desktop.

\--

“This is an intervention, Styles.”

Harry turned around in his chair and stared at the large gathering of his co-workers staring at him, “I’m sorry?”

“Intervention!” Jesy cheered, “We’ve watched you pine for _far_ too long and now you have your chance and you are not taking it!”

“But-”

“Jesy’s right, Haz,” Lou said, “He’s given you the perfect chance to go over there and talk to him. Why aren’t you taking it?”

Harry shrugged and looked down at the floor.

“Well, up and at it, Styles!” Niall shouted, “Go over there and get your man, or we will drag you ourselves!”

The rest of his co-workers shouted in agreement and began chanting his name. Harry rolled his eyes and stood from his chair, greeted by cheers, “You’re all five year olds.” He couldn’t help but smile.

He manoeuvred his way around his fellow employee’s and called the lift to the floor. His hands were trembling slightly and his heart was racing but he _knew_ he had to do this now.

It was now, or possibly never.

It felt like hours before the lift finally reached the floor and Harry had found his way inside the building of 78 Productions. The walls were lined with photographs and golden plates and all sorts of certificates and awards and Harry couldn’t help but stare in awe.

“Hello Sir, can I help you at all?”

Harry turned and found himself face to face with a young blonde woman. She had a bright smile and blue eyes that looked incredibly familiar.

“Um… yes… Hi… um…” Harry stammered, catching sight of her name badge, “Lottie. Hello, I was wondering if it would, um… be possible to speak to uh… Louis Tomlinson?”

“Do you have an appointment?” She asked, heels clicking on the floor as she made her way back over to her desk.

“Oh… I um… no I don’t.”

“Well, Mr. Tomlinson is a rather busy man. I can call him and see if he is free to speak to you if you would like me to?”

“That would be brilliant, if you could, please.” At least this way if Louis said he was too busy to speak to him then it would be an easier let down than if they were face to face.

“Of course, sir,” Lottie smiled, picking up the phone, one hand hovering over the keys, “Might I ask your name, please?”

“Oh, of course. Harry Styles.”

Her hand froze from typing the numbers into the phone as she looked back up at him. “Oh? You’re Harry Styles? My apologies, Sir.”

Harry furrowed his brow and tilted his head slightly in confusion as she rummaged through a drawer and pulled out a card, “Louis’ my brother, he told me to send you up should you happen to arrive. He’s on floor six. Swipe this in the slot for the elevator to call it. His office is the last one at the end of the hallway.”

“Wait, you’re Louis sister?” Harry took the card from her hand, shaking his head at himself, “Should have noticed really. You’ve got the same eyes.”

Lottie laughed and patted him on the shoulder, “Go woo my brother, please? He’s been pining for too long. We can catch up after and I’ll tell you all the embarrassing teenage stories.”

\--

Here he was, on the wrong side of his window, stood outside Louis Tomlinson’s office, gearing himself up to knock on the door.

But he’d been stood there for about ten minutes so far, just trying to work up the courage to knock. People had passed him multiple times, including Zayn Malik himself who passed by around the two minute mark, clapped him on the shoulder once before wandering off again. People were staring at him, asking him if he was okay and if he needed assistance for anything.

Eventually, after thirteen minutes and fifty seven seconds (yes he was counting), Zayn reappeared. When he rounded the corner and spotted Harry still outside the door he shook his head and made his way over with a look of absolute determination. Without saying a single word to Harry, Zayn raised his fist and knocked on the door before opening it and pushing Harry in, shutting it as soon as he was through.

Harry stumbled to catch himself before he fell, face flushing with absolute embarrassment. He refused to look up, just stared at his shoes as he shouted at himself in his head.

He wondered if his co-workers were watching right now out of his own window too. That would be even _more_ embarrassing.

“Harry?”

From impulse, Harry looked up straight away, linking eyes with Louis. He looked as scared as Harry felt, leaning against the front of his desk, hands gripping into the wood, which actually made him feel a lot better.

Harry tiptoed carefully across the room to stand a couple of feet away from Louis. He reached behind the shorter lad – he was a good head shorter, and that did things to Harry that he didn’t quite understand – and picked up the single rose off of the desk, bringing it in front of them.

Louis’ eyes didn’t leave Harry’s once, even as he twirled the rose in his fingers and laughed lightly, “I was hoping you’d sent me these.”

Okay. Where did the courage come from? He’s blaming Zayn.

“Yeah,” Louis whispered, “I thought you might… um… like them? I mean I know they’re a little cliché but I thought maybe-” Harry pressed his lips softly against Louis’, biting back the ridiculous grin that was threatening to take over. But when he felt Louis smile into the kiss, he couldn’t help it anymore.

He pulled away quickly, one hand lifting to sit behind Louis’ head and stroke the duck tail of his hair, “I loved them. I really really loved them.”

“Like how you really really really like me?”

Harry scoffed, “You’re never gonna let that go, are you?”

“Unlikely, love.”

Harry’s stomach filled with butterflies at the pet name and he pressed his lips to Louis’ again. Louis nibbled at his bottom lip lightly and Harry gladly let it fall open.

Their kiss continued for a while, tongues tangling together, teeth clashing, hands gripping hair, until Harry pulled away once more, “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that.”

“Hmm,” Louis whispered, nuzzling his face into Harry’s neck, “I’m guessing from your tone, a while?”

“Two years, five months and thirteen days.”

Louis pulled back and looked at Harry, wide-eyed. “Two years?”

Harry nodded, reaching a hand up to pull lightly on Louis’ bottom lip, “Since I moved desks at Teasdale’s.”

“Since you-” Louis shook his head, “Since you moved desks?”

“Yeah, moved straight into the window opposite.”

“ _You’re_ in the window _opposite_?”

“Yes? How on earth did you not kn-oh.”

Apparently… Harry’s office building had reflective windows. Meaning he could see out perfectly fine…

But the outside was mirrored.

“You mean to tell me, all this time you didn’t know I was in there and I’ve been pining away from you?” Harry laughed, “Oh, my god.”

Louis shook his head and laughed, placing a kiss on Harry’s neck, “I can’t believe I could have known you before.”

They kissed once more, somewhat passionately.

“I thought you hated me,” Harry sighed, “Cause you kept glaring at me.”

“Glaring at you? Why would I glare at you? I’ve had a bit of a thing for you since I saw you in the park with those two lads. When they asked when you’d be settling down.”

He tilted his head, “You’d look over in my exact direction and glare, like, every day.”

Louis’ eyes widened in surprise and he pushed Harry down into his chair.

“What are-”

“Look at the window.”

Harry turned his head to look at where he imagined his desk would be… only to be greeted by a blinding light.

“The sun was always getting in my eyes. I was glaring at it because it hurt my eyes. I had no idea you were on the other side of that window.” Louis hummed, “Maybe it was a sign.”

“A sign?”

“Yeah, that _you_ are my sunshine. Came to blind me with your excellence.”

Harry shook his head, wonder in his eyes. “That is possibly the cheesiest thing I have ever heard.” 

 

**Author's Note:**

> i triED
> 
> i really tried
> 
> cheesiest ending in the world
> 
> i DIDN'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO I'M SORRY 
> 
> if you wanna you can find me on  
> twitter - @libbylumos  
> tumblr - libbylumos.tumblr.com  
> youtube - http://www.youtube.com/libbylumos
> 
> hope you liked it? 
> 
> drop a comment if you did! :D 
> 
> xx


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